Lamia

John Keats wrote Lamia in 1819, the year that also produced his great odes. Published in 1820, this narrative poem in two parts retells a classical tale of a serpent transformed into a woman and the young man who loves her. Keats's verse is sensuous, musical, and psychologically acute, moving between the enchanted and the everyday with unsettling ease. The poem asks what happens when a private world of love and magic is exposed to public scrutiny and rational analysis. It is a story about desire, illusion, and the cost of seeing too clearly.

This edition is for anyone encountering Lamia for the first time, as well as for readers returning to Keats's poetry. It presents the complete text of the poem in its two parts, with a new introduction that places the poem in the context of Keats's life and times. A character guide introduces the poem's figures, while a summary and a thematic overview help readers navigate the poem's rich concerns. A glossary explains old and unusual words, and a set of discussion questions is included for book clubs and students. The aim is to support a direct and pleasurable encounter with one of the great narrative poems of the Romantic period.